A Day Every Year
by R.G Charleoui
Summary: The gods gave me a choice. Live my life alone, or follow their games and live my tragic love story.


_The gods took pity on me one day. _

I was tending my other flowers, making sure to steer clear of the moonlaces so certain memories won't present itself to me, when the messenger of the gods, Hermes, paid me a visit.

"Calypso," he called me.

I'm about to break. _At the mention of my name coming from the lips of a man, it triggered a memory in which my most recent hero called me for the first time, testing my name. He lingers on it – he tastes familiar words but could not bring himself to remember what it meant. _

I brushed non-existent dirt from the end of my dress. "Hermes, what business do you have here? You do know that I could only plant these tinker lilies when it is nearing sunset?"

"I'm to deliver a message – and these tinker lilies would have to wait, however beautiful they are." He said conversationally. "You have been pardoned."

"Tempt not a desperate woman." I quoted dryly from a book Hermes once told me about – Romeo and Juliet was it now? I bent down again and pushed dirt around the roots of the tinker lilies and patted it firmly with my trowel.

Despite what I had said earlier – however firm it was – I could not help but feel a bit…hopeful? Ever since he came and left me with a promise, certain _human_ emotions began stirring inside me, hope being the greater part.

"You misunderstood me." Hermes bent down close to me.

"How so?"

He sighed sadly. "The gods never forgave you're father…that makes them apprehensive as to wether or not follow Percy Jackson's request – or rather demand – for your freedom. He…was given the gift of immortality but he refused and made that demand instead…"

I had accepted Percy's decision back then so that made the mention of his name somehow easier (not better but bearable) on my heart. The words that followed were complete nonsense to me.

"My freedom?" The word feels alien in my mouth; it was not a word I would associate with myself. I would never in my long years here in Ogygia dream that I would ever say the phrase "my freedom" ever again once I was imprisoned – with good grace – here.

"Doth dare joke with me?" I said in a tone that was unfamiliar even to me who had years of nothing but listening to myself talk.

"Let me finish." He commanded, stood up and walked the length of my small garden and sat on a little stone bench that overlooked the calm sea that showed a magnificent view of a somewhat lopsided sunset – this was a phantom island after all; it was neither here nor there.

I followed him albeit reluctantly and sat down beside him close enough that I could feel the battered wings of his sneakers fluttering lightly against my ankle.

"The gods didn't want to leave a loose end."

"Translation: they can't trust a daughter of the Titan Atlas." I said bitterly. "Let me remind you and them that it was his fault and not mine." Overhead, a thunder rumbled on a clear early evening. I looked up at it bluntly.

He hesitated. "That is the truth, I can't deny it. They are however, agreeing to make your…punishment, bearable."

"No amount of beauty can taper and fill the gaps of my broken heart. The gods are wrong." I declared and gestured to my surroundings.

He patted my knee consolingly. "Dear, Calypso, why the angst? Come now! Surely you can find it in your heart to reconsider? Anyways, instead of the fates sending in washed up and broken heroes here every few century, we shorten the time gaps and make it a year instead."

"Am I going to be a lowly, desperate tramp then? Is that what this visit is about? More shame?" I asked him and blinked back the tears.

I was coming undone. He should not have come here if that's what he wanted to talk about.

He smiled gently, kindly. "No. I'm talking about a single man. Have you ever heard of the old Chinese folklore 'The Weaver and the Cowherd'? Well, it's basically a story about how there's a girl and a boy who were in love but when they forgot their duties, they were forced apart by the girl's father.

"The girl became despondent by the loss and when she pleaded, her father eventually agreed to let them meet but only once a year on seventh day of the seventh month. The first time they tried to meet, they found that they could not cross the river that separated them both. The girl supposedly cried from grief and so a flock of magpies flew down and promised to make a bridge using their wings so that they could finally come together.

"The catch? If it rains, they would have to wait another year to meet again because the magpies won't come down." he finished.

"I guess I'm not the only one unlucky in that department then," I mused. "You said that only one man, each year – the same one – would come here?"

He nodded. "It is fairly simple."

I looked down at my intertwined fingers. _You could say no and refuse another heart ache, _I thought to myself. _Say no – say no. Please, please say no._

But how can I refuse such a siren call? Who was I to turn down my one wish – even though it only fulfilled half my wish?

"I will say yes. And, before you leave, can you give Percy Jackson my thank you?"

Hermes stood up and I stood up with him. It was fairly dark now, the first stars were shining dimly but they were there. The air smelled of faint stargreye and moonlace.

"Shall I remind you that the day after tomorrow is the seventh of July, your first encounter with him?"

I nodded. "Thank you Hermes,"

He looked at me with a strange look in his eyes but before I could decode it, he had left me once again all alone in my paradise.

I walked back to where I was planting my tinker lilies and threw away the ones that had spoilt in the night.


End file.
